Keyhaven Week 2019
by Sarah Desjonqueres 26 Aug 2019 15:14 BST
17-23 August 2019
Keyhaven Week regatta never fails to deliver and once more the sun shone, the wind blew and the Solent was filled with smiles, full sails and at the beginning of the week, many, many screaming reaches.
The week kicked off with the Ladies race on Saturday in conditions so blustery that 2 races were held in Keyhaven river to afford a little protection for the sailors from the F5-6 out in the Solent. Sunday's races were no easier, the wind was still in control and for those that braved it, they had their work cut out with gusts that were absolutely on the edge of survival sailing. Everyone loved it.
From Monday, the Keyhaven YC roving reporter was out racing and happily informs that along with the warm sunny weather, there was a wind whipping across the Solent that was somewhere between gunwhale clingingly fantastic and a little bit loopy. The sailing was split into Gold and Silver fleets and in the Gold Fleet, the Finn sailors, along with Ian in his Hadron, pretty much dominated the race, lapping up the 25 knot winds with relish. Riding in their wake were the Aeros and the Lasers blasting along the reaches whilst sporadically demonstrating some pretty spectacular capsizes. For the Silver Fleet 5 Scows made it to the start line, with Simon and Rachel Verdon discovering just how much water a Scow can scoop up after a capsize.
As a point of reference vis a vis the wind, out of the 18 boats racing, all bar a couple decided that a slow tack round was the best way to gybe today. With the wind speed slowly increasing and a sizeable chop building in the Solent, the race team decided to end the day on a high and head for home with just the one race in the bag.
Despite being accused of 'chickening out' by a Finn sailor for opting to sail with a smaller rig on day 2 of the Solent series, the roving reporter can confirm that it was a wise choice, for the Solent once more decided that over 20knots of wind was the order of the day - and it was glorious! Racing a triangle/sausage course, a truly impressive line-up of 49 boats found their way to the start line for the first race, and were gifted rather perfect conditions; sunny, fairly windy and warm.
Race one start line caught out an excitable Laser 2000 in the gold fleet and there was a very boisterous melee at the windward mark as several cheeky lasers came flying towards the buoy, on port, at great speed. From the angle the reporter was witnessing events, there may even have been a small collision or two...
In the Silver fleet one Scow was slowly taking on water, apparently because his rudder kept popping up (is that a valid reason?) which caused him to go slowly however, there was no such trouble at the head of the fleet with a 5 Scow battle for the top spot.
By the time everyone had finished the first race the Solent southwesterly had switched on, ramping up its energy from fairly windy to properly windy once more. It was epic. It was fast. It was wet. It was a little bit loopy, again. With wind whipping the top off the waves, several boats decided to duck back home for an early shower, but most stayed around for the ride. With wind speeds steady at around 20knots accompanied by frequent spicy gusts, the capsizes started but after yesterday's windy practice, all boats went for the gybes this time and the reaches were absolutely brilliant fun and the roving reporter certainly witnessed a lot of smiling faces.
After the white water racetrack of the past couple of days, Wednesday's sailing was all rather pedestrian by comparison. Again, for all who ventured out to sea, the sun beamed and the Solent sparkled, but the frenetic survival sailing demanded on Monday and Tuesday, had now been replaced by a far more slow-paced, tactical kind of sailing. For the roving reporter, the decision to stick with the small rig gave her prime spectator position at the back of the fleet (and plenty of time to regret the decision) and left her fending off Laser 2000s which were trying to gobble up all the wind on the downwind legs. Wednesday's start line proved quite frantic with 21 boats of the Gold fleet all trying to squeeze into a space near the pin end and yesterday's race 3 winner found himself nudged over the line just before the hooter and had to make amends. His subsequent decision to fly into the windward mark on port also upset the applecart and he found himself having to fight his way back up the fleet. Up at the front the Finns and the Hadron were making the most of their massive sail areas and pretty much led the way around.
The Silver fleet ranks filled even further today with an incredible 22 boats on the start line including 12 Scows. Yet again it was the same dark blue boat with its super light-weight crew which enjoyed the clear air at the front of the fleet, only following a Topper, an RS Feva and an RS Quest, around the course.
For Race 2, things got a little feisty on the start line. After losing count of the amount of boats which were over, a general recall was hooted (leaving the Silver fleet hanging around). For the second start, most boats seemed to cluster in the middle and up to the pin end, probably cleared out by a Laser 2000 reaching down the line. This left a lovely window of opportunity for a clear air start for a couple of savvy sailors who were sitting up by the Committee Boat. As the roving reporter was once again muttering rude words about being squashed by boats with huge sails, sailing toward the mark on a beautiful lift were Lorrian in her Aero and Jane in her 4.7 rig. Reaching the windward mark before any other boats, the 2 ladies sheeted out and sailed off down the run with big smiles. Despite their efforts, all the boats with big sails, (bar the Hadron), were unable to catch Lorrian and after much concentration and effort on her part, she finished the race second over the line. As one Finn sailor said after 'we were schooled by the girls in race 2 today'. Sweet.
The Silver fleet racing a triangle course were treated to a Gosling 1,2 in the race with the mother/daughter team in the dark blue Scow once again taking the top spot and son nabbing second place in his Bic.
Thursday brought the Long Distance race, a contest of two halves; the good half where you are flying down the reaches wishing you had your big rig on and each leg whizzes by in the blink of an eye, and the other half where you are glad you stuck to the smaller sail area as you battle the world's longest beat against the waves, as your muscles are ache and you desperately scan the horizon for the river entrance. Sound familiar fellow sailors?
The Race Team laid a brilliant long distance course today, zig zagging all the way to Oxey down the waves in bright sunshine, clear blue skies and a F4ish Solent Southwesterly, again. The Silver fleet set off first, across the line and up to a windward mark before setting off down the Solent. With the procession of colourful Scows under way, the Gold fleet were then released and they too set off toward the windward mark. Arriving at said windward mark, the roving reporter misjudged her port tack approach and tried to pull off some kind of spin on a sixpence coup in front of a bevy of fast moving boats bearing down on starboard. As you may suspect, this did not end well and one Aero boom ended up kissing the mark, just lightly.... Aghhhh. Turn done.
The sight of 27 boats of all sail colours surfing down the Solent was truly heart-warming. Everyone was smiling, it was really quite magical. At the first gybe mark, there was a cluster of 4 boats vying for position and it soon became a battle to see who was going to come out on top. But with such a feeling of camaraderie around today, all 4 boats managed to gybe round in harmony, each giving the other enough space to manoeuvre. That worked a treat for the roving reporter, who, sitting quietly as the 5th boat in the procession, was suddenly presented with a clear inside track with which to round the mark. Excellent.
The super zig zag course gave all the happy sailors the chance to fly down the waves for two more legs until at Oxey, all the boats turned and headed back for a long old slog back to base. And it was a long slog (but a fun one). The swell had picked up as the tide had turned and as well as trying to keep the boat flat, the hulls were now pounding into the waves. To say it was a bit of a relief to turn the corner and reach for home would be a slight understatement, however back in the changing rooms, all the talk was what a truly wonderful time everyone had had on the water. Lovely.
And finally... the tactical, tantalising Pursuit race from Friday afternoon, a race in which one Phantom sailor sulkily dissed it as "not his kind of race" and refused to sail, then showed up on the start line with a big grin and went on to nab 4th place out of 40 boats!
The sailing conditions were so perfect out in the Solent on Friday that the roving reporter was actually racing barefoot and sleeveless; it was just heavenly. The Race Team set a 'P' course and with a run, 2 reaches and a beat it gave everyone plenty of opportunities in which to get in each other's way. 'Starboard!' rang around all over the course as those on the beat converged with those on the run. With such a widespread range of boat speeds (we had the Phantom on a PY of 100 and the Bic on PY 1533 and then everything in between), each leg and each mark rounding presented a fresh challenge as the faster boats sought to catch up and overtake the slower boats, and the slower boats sought defend their place and steal the wind of the incoming traffic.
Positions were easily won or lost on the downwind legs, whether you chose to go high or sneak into a gap a bit lower often made the difference between several places. All the work done up the beat could be undone very easily if you found yourself in the wind shadow of a Phantom or squashed between two Laser 2000s whilst arriving at the mark on the outside with little boat speed and no room to harden up and get moving again... I'm just saying... :-)
After the first boat had raced for 90 mins (I think that's how it worked) we all raced for the line and got our well earned hooter. Great fun and smiles all round and definitely time to head for home and the Prize Giving, Live Band a party. The perfect end to a perfect week.
Thanks to the Race Team for all your patience, course laying and hard work, thank you to the enormous amount of people who gave up their time to go out on the support boats and look after us all and thank you to my team of photographers, Alison Boxall, Richard Dawson and Tom Compton. Regatta weeks don't get better this.